Thermal interface material, method for thermally coupling with thermal interface material, and method for preparing thermal interface material

ABSTRACT

A thermal interlace material for transferring heat by interposing between two materials may include a graphite film. The graphite film may have a thickness T of 200 nm to 3 μm, and a ratio Ra/T of an arithmetic average roughness Ra on a surface of the graphite film to the thickness T of the graphite film, may be 0.1 to 30.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a thermal interface material forrapidly transferring heat from a heat generation source to a coolingmaterial or a heat radiating material, a method for thermally couplingwith the thermal interface material, and a method for preparing thethermal interface material.

BACKGROUND ART

In recent years, the heat generation amount has increased according tothe higher speed of microprocessors or higher performance of LED (LightEmitting Diode) chips, and heat in electronic devices such as a portablephone, a personal computer, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), and agame apparatus as well as in LED illumination is great problems to besolved. For heat dissipation and cooling, there are many methods such asthermal conductions, thermal radiations, or heat convections. In orderto effectively dissipate or cool the heat from a heat generation source,there is a need to combine these heat-dissipating and cooling methods sothat the heat from a heat generating material may be efficientlytransferred to a heat-dissipating and cooling material such as a circuitsubstrate, a cooling fin, a heat sink, or the like. For that purpose, itis important to reduce the thermal resistance between the heatgenerating material and the heat-dissipating and cooling material.

When the hard materials such as a metal and a ceramic are simply coupledwith each other, the coupling between the hard materials only formspoint contacts due to the unevennesses on the surfaces of both the hardmaterials. As a result, a thermal resistance becomes large due to theexistence of an air layer having a low thermal conductivity (thermalconductivity: 0.02 W/mK) between the hard materials. In order to lowersuch thermal resistance between the hard materials, a thermal interfacematerial (Thermal Interface Material, hereafter abbreviated as TIM) isinterposed between materials such as between metals or between a metaland a ceramic. Conventionally, for that purpose, a mixture of a polymermaterial having flexibility for achieving surface contact and a highlythermally conductive inorganic filler for providing the TIM itself witha high thermal conductivity has been used (polymer-inorganic composite,hereafter abbreviated as composite TIM). However, such a mixture cannotexhibit sufficient performance.

Patent Document 1 filed by the present inventors discloses that the thingraphite film exhibits excellent performance as the TIM. Concretely, thedeveloped TIM contains the graphite film having a thickness of 10 nm to15 μm, a thermal conductivity of 500 W/mK or more in a film planedirection, anisotropy of thermal conductivities of 100 or more in boththe surface direction and the thickness direction of the graphite film.In addition, Patent document 1 discloses that the TIM made of thegraphite film exhibits thermal resistance properties of from 0.98°C.·cm²/W (thickness of 13 μm) to 0.33° C.·cm²/W (thickness of 105 nm)under a pressure, for example, of 1.0 kgf/cm². In the specification, theunit of the pressure is represented as MPa. For example, 1.0 MPacorresponds to 10.197 kgf/cm², and the pressure of 1.0 kgf/cm² may beequal to 0.1 MPa.

PRIOR ART Patent Document

Patent Document 1: JP-A-2014-133669

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Problem to be Solved by the Invention

Thus, an object of the present invention is to provide a thermalinterface material (TIM) made of the graphite film having decreasedthermal resistances compared with an already existing composite TIM andTIM containing the graphite film of Patent Document 1, in addition todecreased pressure dependency of the thermal resistance, and havingexcellent heat resistance and durability, a method for thermallycoupling with the thermal interface material, and a method for preparingthe thermal interface material.

Means for Solving the Problems

In order to further improve inventions of the prior-application (PatentDocument 1), the present inventors have studied the influences on thethickness, the thermal conductivity, the anisotropy, and the wrinkle ofthe graphite film, and the like in detail. As a result, the presentinventors have successfully developed a TIM made of the graphite filmhaving a decreased thermal resistance compared with properties of PatentDocument 1, by satisfying given conditions such as thicknesses, thermalproperties, wrinkles, to complete the present invention.

This is based on a new fact, which was not conventionally known at allin the art, that the thermal resistance thereof as a bulk can be madeextremely small due to the thin graphite film of the present invention,and further, the interfacial resistance thereof can be made extremelysmall by providing an optimal wrinkle on the graphite film. For example,the TIM of the present invention has the thermal resistance of 0.3°C.·cm²/W or less as measured under an applied pressure of 0.1 MPa, andthe most excellent thermal resistance of 0.078° C.·cm²/W. The lowthermal resistance achieved though the film of a solid is not known inthe art at all up till now.

Such an extremely specific phenomenon can be definitely shown byplotting the relationship between the thickness and the thermalresistance of the TIM made of the graphite film of the presentinvention. FIG. 1 shows a relation between the thickness and the thermalresistance of the graphite film when a pressure of 0.1 MPa is applied.In the TIM made of the graphite film, the thermal resistance decreasesaccording as the thickness of the graphite film decreases. This showsthat the interfacial thermal resistance becomes smaller according as thethickness of the graphite film decreases. However, when the TIM made ofthe graphite film of the present invention has a thickness of 3 μm orless, the thermal resistance thereof rapidly becomes smaller, and anextremely excellent thermal resistance property of 0.3° C.·cm²/W or lessis achieved in the case where the graphite film has a thickness of 200nm to 3 μm.

In a typical polymer composite TIM, the thickness and the thermalresistance are in a proportional relationship, and the point obtained byextrapolation to the thickness zero indicates the interfacial resistance(For example, see the chain line in FIG. 1). However, in the TIM made ofthe graphite film of the present invention, the thermal resistance doesnot intersect with the Y-axis even when extrapolated to the thicknesszero, unlike the typical TIM in the region of 3 μm or less. Such anextremely specific phenomenon results in an excellent low thermalresistance property of the TIM made of the graphite film of the presentinvention. Therefore, the interfacial resistance decreases by decreasein the thickness of the graphite film and, for this reason, the thermalresistance as a TIM becomes specifically smaller in the case where thethickness is 200 nm to 3 μm (FIG. 1).

On the other hand, when the thickness of the graphite film is less than200 nm, the thermal resistance becomes large. This is due to theinsufficient contact between the graphite film and the measurement jigsurface in the thickness of less than 200 nm.

Also, the thermal coupling using the TIM of the present invention canachieve specific thermal coupling such that the pressure dependency ofthe thermal resistance thereof is extremely small. Specifically, thedifference in thermal resistances between 0.1 MPa pressure applicationand 0.45 MPa pressure application is within 1.8 times multiple, and thesmallest pressure dependency that has been achieved by the presentinvention is as small as 1.1 times multiple. The fact that a solid TIMexhibits the extremely small thermal resistance under such a lowpressure and no pressure dependency of the thermal resistance thereof,is also a specific phenomenon that was not conventionally known in theart. The facts that the pressure dependency of the thermal resistance isextremely small and that a low thermal resistance property is exhibitedwith a small pressure application mean that mechanical strong fasteningis not needed. This further attains a practically extremely usefulproperty that the thermal resistance thereof is affected little evenwhen mechanical fastening is loosened. Here, in the presentspecification, “application of a pressure” is also referred to as“application of a load”.

The thermal interface material of the present invention contains athermal interface material for transferring heat by interposing betweentwo materials, the thermal interface material contains a graphite film,the graphite film has a thickness T of 200 nm to 3 μm, and a ratio Ra/Tof an arithmetic average roughness Ra on a surface of the graphite filmto the thickness T of the graphite film is 0.1 to 30.

The Ra is obtained as follows. When a part of a reference length L iscut along with an average line direction from a roughness curveexpressed by Y=f (X) regarding the average line of the cut part as the Xaxis and regarding a longitudinal direction as the Y axis, thearithmetic average roughness Ra is the value obtained by the followingformula (1) and expressed in μm.

$\begin{matrix}{\left\lbrack {{Mathematical}\mspace{14mu} {Formula}\mspace{14mu} 1} \right\rbrack \mspace{464mu}} & \; \\{R_{a} = {\frac{1}{l}{\int_{0}^{l}{{{f(x)}}{dx}}}}} & (1)\end{matrix}$

When the ratio Ra/T is 0.1 to 30, for example, the graphite film havinga thinnest thickness of 200 nm has Ra of 0.02 μm to 6 μm, and thegraphite film having a largest thickness of 3 μm has Ra of 0.3 μm to 90μm. Particularly, it is important that the graphite film having athickness of 200 nm is limited to have Ra of 6 μm or less and thegraphite film having a thickness of 3 μm is limited to have Ra of 0.3 μmor more. In other words, the graphite film of the present inventiondesirably has Ra of 0.3 μm to 6 μm on the surface of the graphite film.

The present inventors further have found that not only the size of thewrinkle but also the uniformity of the wrinkle is preferably controlledto achieve the low thermal resistance property. Principally, theuniformity of the wrinkle of the graphite film is evaluated by a ratio(Ra/Rave) in which the Ra is each of arithmetic average roughnessesmeasured at the plural sites and the Rave is an average of thearithmetic average roughnesses determined from the measurement resultsof the total plural sites. However, it is impossible to measure the Raof all the sites in a predetermined area, and it is extremely difficultto describe the wrinkle quantitatively. For this reason, the uniformityof wrinkles can be quantitatively evaluated by a method shown in FIG. 2.First, a graphite film as a sample is cut to a size of 50×50 mm², andthe surface roughness Ra is measured in the line-segment directions atfive sites shown by black lines in FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, 2α is a midpointof each side of the about 50 mm square graphite film; 2β is a midpointof the black line segment at each of the five sites; and 2γ is acentroid of the about 50 mm square graphite film. Among the linesegments at the five sites, one line segment forms an angle of 45°relative to each side of the graphite film, and the midpoint of the linesegment coincides with the centroid of the graphite film. Further, theother four line segments are respectively parallel to the four sides ofthe graphite film, and the distance to the nearest side is 4 mm. Theline segment that, connects the midpoint 2β of each line segment to themidpoint 2α of the nearest side is perpendicular to the nearest side. Asa result, when measurement is made by such a method, the ratio (Ra/Rave)is preferably within a range of 0.2 to 5.0 in order to achieve theexcellent thermal resistance property of the present invention. Theaforementioned (Ra/Rave) of 0.2 to 5.0 means that the values ofRa_(i)/Rave are all within a range of 0.2 to 5.0, assuming that thearithmetic average roughnesses measured at the aforementioned five sitesare respectively Ra_(i) (i is one of 1 to 5) and that the average valueof Ra₁ to Ra₅ is Rave. When the area of the graphite film is smallerthan 50×50 mm², the graphite film may be cut to have a square shape, andthe measurement points may be set at the four line segments that arerespectively parallel to the four sides of the square and spaced apartby a predetermined distance therefrom and at the line segment located onthe diagonal line of the square, in the same manner as in theaforementioned case of 50×50 mm².

Specifically, the ratio (Ra/Rave) as an index for evaluating theuniformity of wrinkles defined in the preferable embodiment of thepresent invention is inherently measured by the method described in FIG.2, so that this case may be included in the preferable range of thepresent invention even if the ratio (Ra/Rave) measured by a method otherthan this is out of the range of 0.2 to 5.0.

In addition, the graphite film of the present invention preferably has adensity of 1.60 g/cm³ to 2.26 g/cm³ and a thermal conductivity of 1000W/mK or more in a film plane direction. The larger the thermalconductivity in a film plane direction, the more the heat istransferred. The maximum thermal conductivity of the graphite film is2000 W/mK in a-b plane direction. Therefore, the graphite film of thepresent invention preferably has the thermal conductivity of 1000 W/mKor more and 2000 W/mK or less. Generally, the thermal conductivity ofthe film plane direction has great influences on TIM properties.However, when the graphite film has the thermal conductivity of 1000W/mK in the film plane direction, the thermal conductivity of thethickness direction becomes about 5 to 10 W/mK, so that there is littlechanges in the thermal conductivity of the thickness direction. Further,the thermal conductivity of the thickness direction hardly hasinfluences on the TIM property because the TIM made of the graphite filmof the present invention has an extremely thinner thickness. Therefore,in the preferred embodiment, it is sufficient that the TIM of thepresent invention only recites the thermal conductivity of the filmplane direction. In the specification, the film plane direction is adirection parallel to a surface of the film and the thickness directionis a direction vertical to the film plane.

The present invention contains a method for thermally coupling with thesolid thermal interface material to be interposed between two materialsin which at least one (preferably both) of the following (a) and (b)satisfied:

-   (a) a thermal resistance of 0.3° C.·cm²/W or less on a load of 0.1    MPa-   (b) a ratio R_(0.1P)/R_(0.45P) of thermal resistance R_(0.1P) on a    load of 0.1 MPa to thermal resistance R_(0.45P) on a load of 0.45    MPa of 1.8 or less (preferably less than 1.8).

The above thermal coupling method is extremely effective in the casewhere at least one of materials is used in a severe environment at 125°C. or more such that the composite TIM cannot be used.

A method for preparing a TIM made of the graphite film of the presentinvention is not limited particularly, and it is preferable that thepolymer film is carbonized and graphitized to prepare the graphite film.The carbonization and the graphitization of the polymer film results inthe horizontally oriented graphite film.

A method for providing an optimal wrinkle with the graphite film is notlimited particularly, and it is preferable that in at least one of thecarbonizing step and the graphitizing step, the polymer film, thecarbonized film, or the graphite film is supported at multiple points,the polymer film, the carbonized film, or the graphite film iscarbonized and/or graphitized while pressing.

Further, it is preferable that in at least one of the carbonizing stepand the graphitizing step, a spacer (preferably a spacer having asurface roughness Ra of 0.2 μm to 20 μm) is laminated on at least oneplane of the polymer film, the carbonized film, or the graphite film,and a laminate of the spacer and the polymer film, the carbonized film,or the graphite film is carbonized and/or graphitized while pressing.

The spacer is not limited particularly as long as the spacer has adesirable unevenness, durability, and heat resistance, and it ispreferable that the spacer contains a felt composed of a carbon such asa carbon fiber or a graphite fiber.

The kinds of the polymer materials are not limited particularly, and thepolymer film preferably contains a condensed aromatic polymer. Thegraphite film having a desirable property can be prepared by using theabove polymer film as a raw material. Further, it is preferable that thepolymer film containing the condensed aromatic polymer is carbonized andgraphitized at a temperature of 2400° C. or more to prepare the graphitefilm, the polymer film containing the condensed aromatic polymer has athickness of 400 nm to 7.5 μm (preferably 300 nm to 7.5 μm), and thecondensed aromatic polymer contains an aromatic polyimide.

Specifically, the present invention to solve the above problem is asfollows:

-   (1) A thermal interface material for transferring heat by    interposing between two materials, wherein the thermal interface    material contains a graphite film, the graphite film has a thickness    T of 200 nm to 3 μm, and a ratio of an arithmetic average roughness    Ra on a surface of the graphite film to the thickness T of the    graphite film is 0.1 to 30.-   (2) The thermal interface material according to (1), wherein each of    the arithmetic average roughnesses Ra is 0.3 μm to 6.0 μm on a    surface of the graphite film, and a ratio of each of the arithmetic    average roughnesses Ra on two or more parts of the graphite film to    an average Rave of the arithmetic average roughnesses Ra is 0.2 to    5.0.-   (3) The thermal interface material according to (1) or (2), wherein    the graphite film has a density of 1.60 g/cm³to 2.26 g/cm³, and a    thermal conductivity of 1000 W/mK to 2000 W/mK in a film plane    direction.-   (4) A method for thermally coupling materials with the thermal    interface material according to any one of (1) to (3), wherein a    thermal resistance of the thermal interface material is 0.3°    C.·cm²/W or less on a load of 0.1 MPa.-   (5) A method for thermally coupling materials with the thermal    interface material according to any one of (1) to (3), wherein a    ratio R_(0.1P)/R_(0.45P) of a thermal resistance R_(0.1P) on a load    of 0.1 MPa to a thermal resistance R_(0.45P) on a load of 0.45 MPa    of the thermal interface material is 1.0 to 1.8.-   (6) A method for preparing the thermal interface material according    to any one of (1) to (3), containing carbonizing a polymer film to    form a carbonized film, and graphitizing the carbonized film to form    a graphite film.-   (7) The method according to (6), wherein in at least of the    carbonizing step (the carbonization step) and the graphitizing step    (the graphitization step), the polymer film, the carbonized film, or    the graphite film is supported at multiple points, and the polymer    film, the carbonized film, or the graphite film, is carbonized    and/or graphitized while pressing.-   (8) The method according to (7), wherein in at least one of the    carbonizing step (the carbonization step) and the graphitizing step    (the graphitization step), a spacer is laminated on each plane of    the polymer film, the carbonized film, or the graphite film, and a    laminate of the spacer and the polymer film, the carbonized film, or    the graphite film is carbonized and/or graphitized while pressing.-   (9) The method according to (8), wherein the spacer has a surface    roughness Ra of 0.2 μm to 20 μm.-   (10) The method according to (8) or (9), wherein the spacer contains    a felt composed of a carbon fiber or a graphite fiber.-   (11) The method for according to any one of (6) to (10), wherein the    polymer film contains a condensed aromatic polymer.-   (12) The method according to any one of (6) to (11), containing    carbonizing and graphitizing the polymer film at a temperature of    2400° C. or more, wherein the polymer film contains an aromatic    polyimide and has a thickness of 300 nm to 7.5 μm.

EFFECT OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, the solid thermal interface materialin which the excellent thermal coupling property (the decreased thermalcoupling property) is exhibited compared with the conventional compositeTIM and the TIM of patent Document 1, the pressure dependency of thethermal resistant is greatly reduced, and the interfacial thermalcoupling is excellent in environment stability such as heat resistanceis provided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a graph showing the relations between the thickness and thethermal resistance of the graphite film on a load of 0.1 MPa.

FIG. 2 shows a method of measuring the surface roughness (Ra) and sitesto be measured in the present invention. For the measurement, a graphitefilm having a 50 mm square shape is used, and the measurement sites ofthe surface roughness Ra are the five sites shown by the line segmentsin FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, 2α is a midpoint of each side of the graphitefilm; 2β is a midpoint of the line segment at each of five sites; and 2γis a centroid of the graphite film having a 50 mm square shape. Thesurface roughness (arithmetic average roughness Ra) is measured in theline-segment direction at the five sites.

FIG. 3 shows sites for measuring the thickness of the graphite film ofthe present invention. The thicknesses are measured at five points(indicated by black circles) as shown in FIG. 3, and an average of thethicknesses is calculated to consider this as a thickness of thegraphite film. In FIG. 3, a center point is a centroid of the graphitefilm having a 50 mm square shape. Each of four points near to corners isa point that is 4 mm apart from each of nearest two sides in theperpendicular direction and the inside direction.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state of wrinkle in agraphite film of the present invention, where FIG. 4(a) is an image of across-section of a graphite film having a portion in which almost nowrinkle is partially present and having a partially non-uniform andlarge unevenness; FIG. 4(b) is an image of a schematic cross-section ofthe graphite film having an uniform and large unevenness which is out ofthe range of the present invention; FIG. 4(c) is an image of a schematiccross-section of a graphite film having an optimal unevenness of thepresent invention; and FIG. 4(d) is an image of a schematiccross-section of a graphite film with little unevenness, which is out ofthe range of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an example of a surface photograph of a graphite film, whereFIG. 5(a) is an example of a graphite film having a non-uniform andlarge wrinkle; FIG. 5(b) is an example of a graphite film having auniform and large wrinkle; FIG. 5(c) is an example of a graphite filmhaving a uniform and preferable size wrinkle; and FIG. 5(d) is anexample of a graphite film with little wrinkle. FIGS. 5(a), 5(b), 5(c),and 5(d) are examples of the graphite film corresponding to thecross-sectional images shown in FIG. 4, and correspond to FIGS. 4(a),4(b), 4(c), and 4(d), respectively.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional SEM photograph of a TIM made of a graphitefilm (FIG. 5(c)) of the present invention, where a suitable and uniformwrinkle is formed on the graphite film.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of one example of a method for preparing aTIM made of a graphite film of the present invention where the graphitefilm is sandwiched with flat plane substrates and the graphite film ispressed.

MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described indetail. Here, all of the academic documents and patent documentsdescribed in the present specification are incorporated in the presentspecification as a reference. Also, in the present specification, unlessspecifically mentioned otherwise, the term “A to B” representing anumerical range means “A or more (inclusive of A and more than A) and Bor less (inclusive of B and less than B)”.

The present invention contains a solid TIM (thermal interface material)to be interposed between two materials, the thermal interface materialcontains a graphite film, the graphite film has a thickness T of 200 nmto 3 μm, and a ratio of an arithmetic average roughness Ra on a surfaceof the graphite film to the thickness T of the graphite film is 0.1 to30. The TIM of the present invention satisfies at least one (preferablyboth) of the following (a) and (b): (a) a thermal resistance of 0.3°C.·cm²/W or less on a load of 0.1 MPa and (b) a ratio R_(0.1P)/R_(0.45P)of thermal resistance R_(0.1P) on a load of 0.1 MPa to thermalresistance R_(0.45P) on a load of 0.45 MPa of 1.8 or less (preferablyless than 1.8). The ratio R_(0.1P)/R_(0.45P) is 1.0 or more becauseR_(0.1P) is larger than R_(0.45P). As shown in Examples, the presentinvention can achieve a lowest thermal resistance of 0.078° C.·cm²/W (athickness of 400 nm and a load of 0.1 MPa).

The thermal resistance property (property of transferring heat) of a TIM(thermal interface material) obtained by the present invention iscompared with the thermal resistance property of a TIM made of thegraphite film obtained by the prior application (Patent Document 1).Patent Document 1 discloses that a thermal resistance is 0.98 to 0.33°C.·cm²/W on a pressure with 1.0 kgf/cm² when a graphite film has athickness of 13 μm to 18 nm, and the thermal resistance is 0.43 to 0.34°C.·cm²/W when the thickness of the graphite film is 3 μm to 200 nm. Fromthese, the realized thermal resistance property (0.3° C.·cm²/W or less,lowest value: 0.078° C.·cm²/W) of the present invention is furtherimproved compared with properties of Patent Document 1, and this resultsfrom the formation of the optimal wrinkles in the present invention.

With regard to the pressure dependency of the thermal resistanceproperty, in the range of 200 nm to 3 μm in Patent Document 1, the ratioR_(1.0P)/R_(4.5P) of the thermal resistance when a pressure of 1.0kgf/cm² is applied to the thermal resistance when a pressure of 4.5kgf/cm² is applied is 2.23 times to 1.95 times multiple. Also, PatentDocument 1 teaches that when the graphite film has a thickness of 105nm, a thermal resistance is 0.33° C.·cm²/W on a load of a pressure of1.0 kgf/cm² and that the ratio of the thermal resistance on a load of1.0 kgf/cm² to the thermal resistance on a load of 4.5 kgf/cm² is 1.83times multiple, respectively. In other words, in the graphite filmhaving a thickness of 200 nm or more, a pressure dependency of 1.8 timesmultiple or less (particularly, less than 1.8 times multiple) has notbeen achieved. On the contrary, the present invention has improved sucha property of Patent Document 1 to a great extent and has achieved anexcellently low thermal resistance and small pressure dependency ofthermal resistance in a practical thickness range of 200 nm to 3 μm.Hereafter, the present invention will be described in detail.

-   (A) Graphite film containing conditions to be satisfied

The graphite film of the present invention has a thickness of 200 nm ormore, preferably 300 nm or more, more preferably 400 nm or more, and 3μm or less, preferably 2.5 μm or less, and more preferably 2 μm or less.In the case of more than 3 μm, there is a problem that the thermalresistance increases. In the case of less than of 200 nm, there areproblems that the thermal resistance increases and the handling of thegraphite film as the self-supporting film becomes difficult. On theother hand, when the graphite film has a thickness of 200 nm to 3 μm,the excellent thermal resistant property can be accomplished than thatof the TIM made of the graphite film of Patent document 1. The decreasedthermal resistant property is much excellent compared to that ofconventional composite TIM, and the TIM made of the graphite film of thepresent invention has excellent heat resistance and durability becausethe graphite film does not contain the polymer.

The graphite film of the present invention preferably has a density ofpreferably 1.60 g/cm³ to 2.26 g/cm³, more preferably 1.70 g/cm³ to 2.26g/cm³, and most preferably 1.80 g/cm³ to 2.26 g/cm³. The density of 2.26g/cm³ is an ideal density in the graphite film containing no air layer.The inclusion of the air layer in the graphite film can be confirmed bymeasuring a density of the graphite film. It is desirable that there islittle air layer within the graphite film because the air layer has anextremely decreased thermal conductivity. Like this, the density can beconsidered as a measure of the presence of the air layer.

Also, the graphite film of the present invention has the thermalconductivity in the film plane direction of preferably 1000 W/mK ormore, more preferably 1200 W/mK or more, even preferably 1300 W/mK ormore, and most preferably 1400 W/mK or more. The maximum thermalconductivity of the film plane direction of the graphite film is 2000W/mK as a monocrystal graphite. The reason why it is important that thethermal conductivity in the film plane direction is large in the presentinvention can be described as follows. That is, since the thermalcoupling between the TIM made of the graphite film and the materialsforms point contacts and the graphite film has the extremely largethermal conductivity in the film plane direction of the graphite film,the heat that has flowed in from one coupling point is rapidly diffusedwithin the TIM made of the graphite film. As a result, the heat can flowfrom numerous coupling points to the materials on the lower-temperatureside. In other words, the high thermal conductivity in the film planedirection of the graphite film produces the same effects as in the casewhere the graphite film is in contact at a larger number of couplingpoints than the actual number of coupling points. Such an effect islarger according as the thermal conductivity in the film plane directionis larger, so that the thermal conductivity in the film plane directionis important for the decreased thermal resistance. Thus, the presentinvention has found that the thermal conductivity in the film planedirection is important in improving the TIM properties.

The graphite film of the present invention has a feature that a ratio ofan arithmetic average roughness Ra of the surface of the graphite filmto thickness T, or (Ra/T) is 0.1 to 30. The ratio Ra/T is preferably 0.2or more, more preferably 0.3 or more, and preferably 20 or less, morepreferably 10 or less. Particularly, the ratio Ra/T is more preferably0.2 to 20, and most preferably 0.3 to 10. The arithmetic averageroughness Pa is important to realize excellently decreased thermalresistance and the small pressure dependency of the thermal resistance.As mentioned above, the optimal wrinkles can be expressed by thearithmetic average roughness of 0.3 μm to 6 μm on the surface of thegraphite film. The arithmetic average roughness of the surface of thegraphite film specified in the present invention may be an average ofthe arithmetic average roughnesses measured at multiple sites on thegraphite film and may be an average of the arithmetic averageroughnesses measured at five sites as shown in FIG. 2.

In the case where the uniformity of the wrinkles of the graphite film ofthe present invention is measured with the above method, a ratio(Ra/Rave) of each Ra values measured to an average Rave of multiple Ravalues is preferably 0.2 or more, more preferably 0.4 or more, evenpreferably 0.5 or more, and preferably 5.0 or less, more preferably 3.0or less, and even preferably 2.0 or less. Particularly, the ratio ofRa/Rave is preferably 0.2 to 5.0, more preferably 0.4 to 3.0, and mostpreferably 0.5 to 2.0.

As shown above, the thermal interface material of the present inventionhas the graphite film having a thickness of 200 nm to 3 μm in which thegraphite film can be practically handled and prepared. Therefore, a bulkthermal resistance is small due to thinner thickness, the graphite filmhas the flexibility, multi-point coupling close to surface contact canbe realized by optimal surface roughness, so that excellent thermalresistance can be realized in the TIM.

-   (B) Method for preparing polymer film

A method for preparing the graphite film is not limited particularly andthe graphite film can be prepared by baking of the polymer film. Thepolymer film preferably contains a condensed aromatic polymer, and thepolymer is preferably at least one selected from polyimide, polyimide,polyquinoxaline, polyoxadiazole, polybenzimidazole, polybenzoxazole,polybenzthiazole, polyquinazolinedione, polybenzoxazinone,polyquinazolone, benzimidazobenzophenanthroline ladder polymer, andderivatives thereof.

The polymer film is preferably an aromatic polyimide film in the view ofthe conversion of the polymer film to the high quality graphite. Inaddition, the aromatic polyimide film is preferably a film havingcontrolled molecular structures and higher structures and excellentorientation in the view of the simple conversion to the high qualitygraphite.

The aromatic polyimide film can be produced by various publicly knowntechniques. For example, the polyimide film of the present invention isproduced by casting the above-mentioned organic solvent solutioncontaining a polyamic acid as a polyimide precursor on a support such asan endless belt or a stainless steel drum, drying and imidizing thesolution. In addition, the polyimide film can be prepared by heating athin film containing a polyamic acid formed by the vapor depositionpolymerization, and imidizing the film. The vapor depositionpolymerization is effective for the preparation of the polyimide filmhaving an extremely thinner thickness of 3 μm or less.

Examples of a method for producing a polyimide include, without limitingparticularly, a thermal cure method in which a polyamic acid of aprecursor is imidized by heating, and a chemically curing method inwhich both or one of a dehydrating agent typified by acid anhydridessuch as acetic anhydride and tertiary amines such as picoline,quinoline, isoquinoline and pyridine, is used as an imidizationaccelerator for polyamic acid to perform imidization.

Specifically, a method for preparing a polyimide film using thechemically curing method is as follows. The dehydrating agent containinga larger amount than an amount of stoichiometry and the imidizationaccelerator containing the same amount as a catalyst are added to asolution containing a polyamic acid and an organic solvent to prepare amixture, the mixture is casted or coated on a substrate, an organic filmsuch as PET, or a supporting body such as drum or endless belt toprepare a film-like layer, drying the organic solvent by heating toprepare a film having mechanical strength. Then, the film is furtherheated, dried, imidized to prepare a polyimide film composed of thepolyimide polymer. The temperature of heating is preferably the range offrom 150° C. to 550° C. The increasing rate of the temperature forheating the polymer is not limited particularly, and it is preferablethat the polymer is continuously, intermittently or gradually heated tocontrol the maximum temperature within the above range. Further, in thecourse of the preparation of the polyimide, it is preferable that thefilm is fixed or expanded to prevent the shrinkage. The fixation or theexpansion of the film can increase the orientation of the polymer. Thepolyimide film has, for example, an average linear thermal expansioncoefficient of 0.5×10⁻⁶ to 5.0×10⁻⁵ cm/cm/° C. in the case of themeasurement at 100° C. to 200° C. and a birefringence of 0.1 to 0.2.

The thickness of the graphite film finally obtained is changed accordingto a thickness of a polymer film as a raw material. In the aromaticpolyimide, a thickness of the graphite film finally obtained is commonlyoften about 60% to 40% of a thickness of a starting polymer film havinga thickness of 1 μm or more, or about 50% to 30% of a thickness of astarting polymer film, having a thickness of less than 1 μm.Accordingly, in order to obtain a graphite film of the present inventionhaving a thickness of 200 nm to 3 μm, a starting polymer film preferablyhas a thickness of from 300 nm to 7.5 μm.

-   (C) Method for preparing graphite film

A method for preparing a TIM made of the graphite film of the presentinvention is not limited particularly as long as the graphite filmhaving desirable properties is obtained. The graphite film is preferablyprepared by carbonization and graphitization of a polymer film. Thecarbonization and the graphitization may be carried out at one furnaceor separate furnaces. The carbonization and the graphitization of thepolymer film is explained as follows. The carbonization is not limitedparticularly, and the polymer film of a starting material ispreliminarily heated to carbonize the polymer film in an inert gas or ina vacuum. The inert gas preferably includes nitrogen gas, argon gas, amixed gas of argon and nitrogen. The preliminary heating is carried outat a temperature of about 1000° C. The increasing rate of thetemperature to the preliminary heating temperature is not limitedparticularly, and for example 5 to 15° C./minute and preferably 8 to 12°C./minute. The holding time of the preliminary heating temperature isfor example 30 minutes to 2 hours. It is desirable that the tension ofthe plane direction is applied at a degree of no break of the film suchthat the orientation of the starting polymer film is not decreased atthe stage of the preliminary heating.

The graphitization of the polymer is not limited particularly, and thefilm carbonized with the above method is set in a furnace at a hightemperature to graphitize the film. The graphitization is carried out inan inert gas, and the inert gas is appropriately argon and both argonand helium in a small amount may be used. The temperature for thegraphitization is preferably 2400° C. or more, more preferably 2600° C.or more, and most preferably 2800° C. or more from the view of theconversion to high quality graphite film at a higher temperature. Thegraphitization may be carried out at a given time, and the holding timefor the graphitization is for example 5 minutes or more, preferably 10minutes or more, and the holding time for the graphitization may be 20minutes or less. The upper limit of the temperature for thegraphitization is not limited particularly, and the temperature for thegraphitization may be 3600° C. or less, or 3500° C. or less. Theincreasing rate of the temperature of from the preliminary heating tothe graphitization is not limited particularly, and for example 10 to30° C./minute, and preferably 15 to 25° C./minute. After thegraphitization, the temperature may be decreased at for example 30 to50° C./minute.

-   (D) Shape and evaluation of optimal wrinkles

The graphite film prepared with the general methods have both regionswith little wrinkles and regions with many uneven wrinkles (roughnesses)over the whole film plane. FIG. 4 (a) is an image of a schematiccross-section of a conventional graphite film having sites with littlepartial wrinkles or sites with uneven wrinkles of partially largeunevennesses. Generally, the uneven wrinkles are produced in many caseswhere the carbonization and the graphitization are carried out withoutdevised means as set forth below. Further, in the conventionalpreparation methods, it is hard to control not only the uniformity ofthe wrinkles but also the size of unevennesses of the wrinkles.Therefore, the conventional graphite film having no controlled wrinkleshas great influences on the properties of the TIM, and it is preferablethat the method for preparing the graphite film is newly devised inorder to prepare the graphite film having controlled wrinkles.

The present inventors has found that in order to realize excellent TIMproperty containing the preferred embodiment, it is important to controla height of wrinkle (roughness) to thickness, and the uniformity ofwrinkles. FIG. 4(b) is an image of a schematic cross-section of thegraphite film having a uniform and large unevenness which is out of therange of the present invention and this expresses a schematic case wherea ratio of average Ra/average thickness T (μm/μm) is more than 30. FIG.4(c) is an image of a schematic cross-section of a graphite film havingan optimal unevenness of the present invention and this expresses aschematic case where a ratio of average Ra/average thickness (μm/μm) is0.1 to 30. FIG. 4(d) is an image of a schematic cross-section of agraphite film with little unevenness, which is out of the range of thepresent invention and this expresses a schematic case where a ratio ofaverage Ra/average thickness (μm/μm) is less than 0.1.

FIG. 5 shows an example of an actual surface photograph of the schematiccross-sectional image corresponding to a graphite film shown in FIG. 4.FIGS. 5(a), 5(b), 5(c), and 5(d) correspond to FIGS. 4(a), 4(b), 4(c),and 4(d), respectively. Also, FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional SEM photographof a graphite film in the state of FIG. 5(c), where a wrinkle having asuitable height has been uniformly formed. As described previously, FIG.5(a) is an example in which a wrinkle is often generated in the casewhere the carbonization and the graphitization are carried out withoutapplying a pressure. Further, FIG. 5(b) is an example in which a largewrinkle is often generated in the case where the carbonization iscarried out by interposing with mirror-surface jigs, and thegraphitization is carried out without applying a pressure. FIG. 5(c) isan example in which a graphite film has an optimal wrinkle that has beenformed by the below-described technique of the present invention.Further, FIG. 5(d) is an example in which a graphite film has littlewrinkle, which can be possibly obtained when the carbonization and thegraphitization are carried out by interposing with jigs havingmirror-surface.

As studied results, the TIM excellent in properties cannot be preparedwhen wrinkles as shown in FIG. 5 (a) and (b) are formed and when thegraphite film has no wrinkles as shown in FIG. 5 (d). On the other hand,the TIM excellent in properties can be prepared when the graphite filmhas a controlled wrinkle having a suitable size as shown in FIG. 5 (c).However, a method for controlling a size of the wrinkle of the graphitefilm as shown in FIG. 5 (c) has not been known, and there has been aneed to develop a method for controlling a wrinkle of the graphite filmto provide an optimal wrinkle, and a method for evaluating the wrinkleof the graphite film.

Specifically, roughness (wrinkle) of a suitable size to thickness can beevaluated with a ratio of the arithmetic average roughness Ra of thesurface of the graphite film at each measured sites to the thickness Tof the graphite film. In other words, the ratio Ra/T can be 0.1 to 30 inthe preferred range of the present invention. When this is expressed bythe preferred surface roughness of the graphite film of the presentinvention, Ra is 0.3 μm or more and 6 μm (6.0 μm) or less on the basisof the above mentions.

Such an arithmetic average roughness Ra can be determined by an alreadyexisting method, that is, an optical method such as a probe-type surfaceroughness meter or a laser microscope, or a method such as STM (ScanningTunneling Microscope) or ATM (Atomic Force Microscope). For example, JISB0601-2001 can be applied in the measurement of the arithmetic averageroughness Ra.

In the graphite film of the present invention, not only Ra values as thesize of the wrinkle but also the uniformity of the wrinkle is preferablycontrolled to realize the excellent thermal resistance property.Principally, the uniformity of the wrinkle of the graphite film isevaluated by a ratio of (Ra/Rave) in which the Ra is an arithmeticaverage roughness measured at each of the plural sites and the Rave isan average of the arithmetic average roughnesses determined at the totalplural sites. Generally, it is slightly unclear to measure the Ra ofmultiple sites, and it is extremely difficult to describe the wrinklequantitatively. For this reason, the uniformity of wrinkles of the TIMmade of the graphite film of the present invention can be quantitativelyevaluated by a method shown in FIG. 2 as a measure of the evaluation ofthe uniformity. This is effective for evaluation of the uniformity ofthe wrinkles in the present invention even if this is not necessarilyabsolute evaluation.

When Ra and Rave are measured by the method of FIG. 2, the graphite filmof the present invention has the ratio of Ra/Rave of preferably 0.2 to5.0, more preferably 0.3 to 3.0, and most preferably 0.4 to 2.0,Variations of Ra are reduced. in the graphite film and the uniformity ofthe unevenness or the wrinkles is further improved, so that the TIMproperty can be achieved stably. In the present invention, the ratio ofRa/Rave of 0.2 to 5.0 is limited to the case of evaluating with themethod of FIG. 2 in which the uniformity of the wrinkles is notabsolutely evaluated.

-   (E) Method for Controlling Optimal Wrinkles

In the present invention, a method for appropriately controlling a Rasize and a uniformity of the wrinkle of the graphite film is not limitedparticularly. In conventional methods of preparing the graphite filmfrom the polymer film, it is hard to form an optimal wrinkle. When thearomatic polyimide of the polymer film is carbonized, the carbonizedfilm is shrunk to reduce the original area of the original polymer filmby about 75 to 85 at the carbonization in many cases. In addition, whenthe shrinkage and the expansion of the film during the carbonization andthe graphitization is left to nature, the area of the finally obtainedgraphite film is enlarged compared with the carbonized film, and thedimension of the graphite film is about 85 to 95 of the dimension oforiginal polymer film. Thus, due to natural shrinkage and expansion, aregion where large wrinkles are biased and a region where there islittle wrinkle coexist in the graphite film, so that appropriatewrinkles cannot be formed.

The present inventors have found out that a preferable wrinkle can beformed when, in at least one of the carbonizing step (the carbonizationstep) and the graphitizing step (the graphitization step), a spacerhaving an unevenness of a suitable size is laminated onto one surface(preferably both surfaces) of at least one of the sample such as apolymer film, a carbonized film, or a graphite film, interposing thesebetween flat and smooth pressing plates or jigs, and treating at acarbonization temperature and a graphitization temperature whilepressurizing with a suitable pressure from both sides, therebycompleting the present invention.

In the present invention, a suitable wrinkle is formed by controllingthe shrinkage and expansion through a pressing treatment using a spacer.Specifically, a suitable wrinkle can be formed when a spacer having anunevenness with a suitable size is laminated onto one plane (preferablyboth planes) of one of a polymer film, a carbonized film, and a graphitefilm, interposing these between flat and smooth pressing plates or jigs,and treating at a carbonization temperature and a graphitizationtemperature while pressing with a suitable pressure from both sides.Here, the carbonization is carried out on a polymer film, and thegraphitization is carried out on a carbonized film. Also, are-graphitization may be carried out in accordance with the needs. There-graphitization is carried out on a graphite film. In the case wherethe graphitization is carried out after a polymer film is carbonized,the aforementioned pressing treatment may be carried out in one or bothof the carbonization step and the graphitization step.

FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a pressing method byinterposing the film to be treated with fiat plane substrates. Thereference numerals 7 a, 7 b, and 7 c denote a graphite film, a spacer,and a pressing jig, respectively. In this example, a spacer having asuitable unevenness is placed between two sheets of flat planesubstrates, that is, between the pressing jig and the graphite film, andthe spacer and the graphite film are pressurized with the flat planesubstrates. The materials of the pressing plates and the spacer used inpressing the film to be treated are not particularly limited as long asthe materials have durability against a high-temperature treatment;however, typically, the pressing plates or the spacer is preferably acarbon material or a graphite material. For example, a substrate made ofCIP (Cold Isotropic Press: cold hydrostatic press) material that isisotropic graphite or glassy carbon can be used.

The spacer used in the present invention has unevenness of a suitablesize, and the spacer has a surface roughness (Ra) of preferably 20 μm orless, more preferably 10 μm or less, and even preferably 5 μm or less.In addition, the spacer may have a surface roughness (Pa) of 0.2 μm ormore.

It is difficult to uniquely determine the pressing conditions becausethe pressing conditions depend on complex combination of the factorssuch as the spacer shape, the type of the film to be treated (polymerfilm, carbonized film, or graphite film) and the thickness. However, thepressing conditions may be set in consideration of the followingconditions. In other words, a polymer film shrinks in the carbonizationstep and expands in the graphitization step, so that the film is finelysplit in the shrinking step when the pressuring force is too strong.Also, a non-uniform wrinkle is generated in the graphitization step. Onthe other hand, when the pressuring force is too small, the unevennessof the spacer cannot be reflected as the unevenness of the graphitefilm. Accordingly, in the carbonization and the graphitization, themagnitude of the pressuring force is preferably changed in considerationof the elongation and shrinkage thereof instead of applying a uniformpressure.

The pressing of the carbonization and the graphitization may becontinuous or intermittent and the pressing pressure can beappropriately set from, the range of 1 gf/cm² to 2000 gf/cm². Thepressing pressure is preferably 2 gf/cm² or more, 5 gf/cm² or more, or10 gf/cm² or more, and preferably 1000 gf/cm² or less, or 500 gf/cm² orless.

The pressing time may be appropriately set from a short period to a longperiod according to various conditions or the pressing may be carriedout multiple times. However, it is desirable that the pressing of thegraphitization is not completed at early stages, and continues up to themaximum temperature. The reason is as follows. At the graphitizationtreatment, the dimension of the graphite film in the film planedirection is elongated until the film temperature becomes the highesttemperature. Therefore, in many cases, uneven wrinkles of the graphitefilm are generated by an uneven elongation of the film at a final stageof the graphitization when the pressing is ended at a very early stagefor the graphitization. In addition, the pressing of the graphitizationdesirably starts after the graphite film starts to expand. When thepressing is performed at the very early stage before the graphite filmstarts to expand and then continued as it is, the graphite filmunfavorably comes not to be elongated although the film is originallyelongated into the film plane direction. This also causes the generationof finally-obtained surface irregularities of the graphite film. Thus,about the pressing timing, the pressing starts at a temperature ofpreferably 2200° C. or more, more preferably 2400° C. or more, and evenpreferably 2600° C. or more, and the pressing preferably continues up tothe maximum temperature. The graphite film may be repeatedly pressed fora short period and may be further pressed also at the vicinity of thehighest temperature. It is advisable to optimize appropriately thepressing pressure, period and timing, and other minute conditions,considering such a basis as described above.

The pressing means may be a pressing means (pressing mechanism) capableof controlling mechanical pressure or a non-mechanical means such as thepressing from the self-weight of the pressing plate or the pressing of aheavy stone made of graphite or carbon placed on the pressing plate. Thenon-mechanical means is suitable in applying a constant weak weight atall times during the carbonization and graphitization and canadvantageously form a wrinkle having a suitable height in the graphitefilm.

The spacer is not particularly limited as long as the spacer hasdurability against both of the treatment temperature and the pressingforce. The spacer may be a powdery particle or a film, or woven clothfabricated from a fibrous substance. In particular, a carbon-based orgraphite-based particle (particularly a powdery particle) or acarbon-based or graphite-based fibrous substance (particularly a film orwoven cloth prepared from the fibrous substance) is preferably used.Examples of the powdery particle include a glassy carbon particle, agraphite particle, and a graphite scale. Examples of the fibroussubstance include a carbon fiber and a graphite fiber. Also, it ispossible to use an inorganic particle or the like, such as scale-likesilica, alumina, spherical alumina, or scale-like boron nitride,particles to be carbonized and graphitized by heating such as polyimideparticles at appropriate times. The materials of the spacer of thepresent invention include substances, such as silica, that cannotwithstand up to a high temperature of 2800° C. or the like which is thefinal stage of graphitization.

The powdery particle is more preferably a particle having a lubricatingeffect. The carbon-based or graphite-based spacer has advantages such asready availability, hardly raising problems because of being the sametype of carbon-based substance even when adhering to the graphite filmor in the electric furnace, and certain lubricity.

The roughness (unevenness) of the spacer surface molded in a film shapeor woven cloth shape gives a large influence on the unevenness formationof the TIM made of the graphite film to be fabricated. However, theroughness of the spacer surface and the magnitude of the surfaceroughness of the graphite film do not necessarily coincide with eachother. This is because the unevenness of the spacer surface plays a roleof supporting the graphite film at points in some cases. This is a largerole of the spacer to prevent breakage by shrinkage or expansion in thethermal treatment step of the graphite film.

An average particle size (d₅₀) of powdery particles as the spacermaterials, a fiber diameter of fibrous substances as the spacermaterials, and a thickness of scale as the spacer materials(hereinafter, the average particle size of the particles, the diameterof the fibers, and the thickness of the scales refer to as a thicknessof the spacer in some cases) is, for example, 0.2 μm or more, preferably0.5 μm or more, more preferably 1 μm, or more, and for example, 100 μmor less, preferably 50 μm or less, and more preferably 20 μm or less.The spacer may be a sheet (preferably those as sandpapers) havinguniformly distributed projections and containing the particles, thefibers, or the like and may be a non-woven fabricated with many fibroussubstances. Concretely, the preferable spacer to be used is a graphitesheet having exposed graphite particles on the surface thereof bycarbonizing and graphitizing a polyimide film containing the graphiteparticles, a graphite sheet having formed graphite particles on thesurface thereof by vapor-depositing a graphite particle on the graphitesheet, or a non-woven fabric composed of carbon fibers.

Further, it is also preferable to use the spacer in combination with apaste, an oil, a wax, or the like in view of adjusting the lubricity andfurther finely controlling the degree of unevenness of the wrinkle ofthe graphite film to be formed. Also, the substance used for the paste,the oil, the wax, or the like may be suitably selected. For example, inthe case of the oil, a mineral oil, a synthesized hydrocarbon oil, anester oil, a polyglycol oil, a silicone oil, a fluorine oil, a canolaoil, or a mixture of these can be suitably used. Alternatively, the oilmay be a modified oil. For example, in the case of the silicone oil, anepoxy-modified silicone oil, a polyether-modified silicone oil, anamino-modified silicone oil, or an epoxy-modified silicone oil can beused.

Any of the above examples corresponds to spacers obtained by processingparticle spacers or fibrous spacers as raw materials to the film form orthe fabric form. In spacers, the unevenness may be formed by methodssuch as a method of sprinkling spacers on the film to be treated or thepressing plate, a method of coating spacers with brush on the film to betreated or the pressing plate, a method of coating a dispersioncontaining dispersed spacers on the film to be treated. or the pressingplate, and drying the dispersion, and a method of coating spacers withsieve on the film to be treated or the pressing plate.

Further, unevenness may be provided on the surface of the pressing jigor the pressing plate, and this may be used as the spacer havingunevenness. In this case, it is preferable to let the pressing platesurface have a certain shape or surface roughness by treating thepressing jig surface with a sand paper, a sand blast, or a polishingmaterial. For such a purpose, it is possible to use a pressing platemade of a CIP material or glassy carbon whose surface has been uniformlyroughened to a certain degree, as the pressing jig. Further, it is alsopreferable to use a pressing plate made of a CIP material or glassycarbon in which a carbon fiber is allowed to firmly adhere to thesurface of the plate by pressing the carbon fiber at a high temperature.

In the case of carbonizing or graphitizing the polymer film bysupporting the raw material polymer film or the carbonized film atplural points, the obtained graphite film may be broken when thepressure is too large or due to adhesion caused by static electricity.In such a case, it is preferable to perform static elimination with asuitable antistatic agent or an ionizer.

Various kinds of techniques described above for providing an optimalroughness on the TIM made of the graphite film may be suitably selectedin accordance with the production process without limiting to thecontents of the Examples given below. Further, the method of preparingthe TIM made of the graphite film of the present invention is excellentin productivity because numerous sheets can be stacked and fired at thesame time. Also, the preparation method is applicable even in the casewhere the film to be treated has an extremely small thickness as in therange of the present invention and is liable to be physically broken.

According to the method for preparing the TIM made of the graphite filmof the present invention, optimal wrinkles can be formed, ratios ofarithmetic average roughness (Ra) thickness can be controlled in anappropriate range, and a variation of properties of the TIM made of thegraphite film can be reduced in the preferred embodiment. Therefore, thethermal resistance at interface can be decreased by the formation ofsuch a wrinkle and the thermal resistance of the TIM can be decreased.

-   (F) Method for Thermally Coupling with TIM

The method for thermally coupling materials using the TIM of the presentinvention contains a step of placing the aforementioned TIM between thematerials to be thermally coupled. In other words, the method forthermally coupling materials with the TIM of the present inventioncontains bringing the thermal interface material according to thepresent invention into contact with two materials, and placing(interposing) the thermal interface material between the two materials,so that the heat is transmitted from one material (first material) tothe other material (second material). By interposing the TIM of thepresent invention between the materials (between the first material andthe second material), the heat from the heat generation source or thematerial thermally coupled to the heat generation source (firstmaterial) transfers to the second material having a temperature equal toor lower than that (preferably a temperature lower than that of thefirst material), and the method for thermally coupling with TIM can becarried out. The graphite film is placed by being interposed between thematerial near the heat source and the material far from the heat source,and the graphite film is in direct surface contact with each material.In order to achieve excellently thermostable interface thermal coupling,it is preferable that the thermal coupling between materials is carriedout simply with the graphite film alone without using various kinds ofbonding layers. As a method for realizing the thermal coupling betweenmaterials without the intervention of the bonding layers, fixation maybe made with a simple mechanical pressure. Mechanical swaging with ascrew, a thread, a spring, or the like is effective for direct thermalcoupling and hence is preferable. However, there is riot necessarily aneed for strong swaging in consideration of the fact that low thermalresistance can be achieved under a low pressure and the fact that thepressure dependency of the thermal resistance is small as a feature ofthe present invention. Even when the swaging pressure changes, theinfluence thereof is small, so that a practically extremely effectivethermal coupling between materials can be realized. When a pressure isapplied with a mechanical pressure or the like, the value of thepressure may be 0.1 MPa or more, preferably 0.2 MPa or more. An upperlimit of the pressure is not particularly limited; however, the pressureis preferably 1 MPa or less, more preferably 0.8 MPa or less, becausethe effect is saturated when the pressure is too large, and also the TIMmaterial may break by excessive pressure. By such thermal coupling, thethermal resistance when a load of 0.1 MPa is applied can be made to be0.3° C.·cm²/W or less. The thermal resistance when a load of 0.1 MPa isapplied is preferably 0.27° C.·cm²/W or less, more preferably 0.25°C.·cm²/W or less, and even preferably 0.2° C.·cm²/W or less. Also, theratio (R.0.1_(p)/R0.45_(p)) of the thermal resistance (R_(0.1P)) when aload of 0.1 MPa is applied to the thermal resistance (R_(0.45P)) when aload of 0.45 MPa is applied can be made to be 1.0 to 1.8, preferablyless than 1.8, more preferably 1.5 or less, and even preferably 1.4 orless.

Accordingly, the method for thermally coupling with the thermalinterface material of the present invention is particularly excellent ina high-temperature environment in addition to the decreased thermalresistance. In particular, the thermally coupling with the TIM made ofthe graphite film having the excellent heat resistance and thedurability is an extremely effective when the temperature of at leastone of the thermal coupling materials is 150° C. or higher, and theeffectiveness thereof can be exhibited in a LED or a power semiconductoror in a severe environment such as a vicinity of an automobile engine.

The present application claims the benefit of priority to JapanesePatent Application Number 2017-017697 filed on Feb. 2, 2017. The entirecontents of the specification of Japanese Patent Application Number2017-017697 filed on Feb. 2, 2017 are hereby incorporated by reference.

EXAMPLES

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail withreference to Examples, but the present invention is not limited thereto,and the variation and the modification of the present invention withoutdeparting the gist described above and below are all included thetechnical scope of the present invention.

<Measurement Method of Physical Property>

First, a method of measuring the physical properties in the followingExamples is shown in the following.

(1) Thickness of Graphite Film

The thickness at arbitrary five sites as shown in FIG. 3 of a graphitefilm cut out to have a size of 50×50 mm² was measured with acontact-type thickness gauge, and an average value thereof wasdetermined as the thickness of the graphite film.

(2) Density of Graphite Film

The density of the graphite film was measured by using a dry-typeautomatic density meter AccuPyc II 1340 (manufactured by ShimadzuCorporation). The density was measured sheet by sheet with respect tothe five sheets of graphite film, and an average value thereof wasdetermined as the density.

(3) Thermal Conductivity of Graphite Film

The thermal diffusion rate of graphite film was measured by using athermal diffusion rate measurement apparatus employing the periodicheating method (“LaserPit” apparatus manufactured by ULVAC, Inc.) andusing a frequency of 10 Hz at 25° C. in vacuum (about 10⁻² Pa). This wasa method of attaching a thermocouple at a point spaced apart by acertain distance from the point of laser heating and measuring thetemperature change thereof. However, by this method, when the thicknessof the graphite film was 1 μm or less, it was impossible to performcorrect measurement, because the measurement error was too large.Accordingly, as a second measurement method, measurement was carried outusing the periodic heating radiation temperature-measuring method(Thermoanalyzer TA3 manufactured by BETHEL Co., Ltd.). This was anapparatus in which periodic heating was carried out with laser, andtemperature measurement was carried out with a radiation thermometer,and the apparatus was completely in no contact with the graphite filmduring the measurement, so that even a sample in which the thickness ofthe graphite film was 1 μm or less can be measured. In this apparatus ofBETHEL Co., Ltd., the frequency of periodic heating can be changedwithin a range up to 800 Hz at the maximum. In other words, thecharacteristic feature of this apparatus lies in that the temperaturemeasurement is carried out with a radiation thermometer, and themeasurement frequency can be variable. In principle, a constant thermaldiffusion rate can be measured even when the frequency was changed, sothat, in the measurement using the present apparatus, the measurementwas carried out by changing the frequency. When a sample having athickness of 1 μm or less was measured, the measurement value was oftenvaried at the measurement of 10 Hz or 20 Hz; however, the measurementvalue was almost constant at the measurement of 70 Hz to 800 Hz.Accordingly, the thermal diffusion rate was determined by using anumerical value that indicated a constant value irrespective of thefrequency (value at 70 Hz to 800 Hz). The thermal conductivity (W/mK)was calculated by multiplying the thermal diffusion rate (m²/s), thedensity (kg/m³), and the specific heat (798 kJ/(kg·K)).

(4) Arithmetic Average Roughness Ra on Surface of Graphite Film and Ra/T

Surface roughness (arithmetic average roughness) Ra of the graphite filmat room. temperature (20° C.) was measured by using a surface roughnessmeasuring instrument (Surfcom DX manufactured by TOKYO SEIMITSU Co.,LTD.) in accordance with JIS B 0601. A sample of a graphite film havinga 50 mm×50 mm square size was used to measure the surface roughness.Portions of measuring the surface roughness Ra were five portions shownin line segments of FIG. 2. The reference length L was determined inaccordance with JIS B 0633. When a part of the reference length L wascut from the chart drawn at a feed rate of 0.05 mm/sec and the roughnesscurve was expressed by Y=f(X) regarding the average line of the cut partas the X axis and regarding a longitudinal direction as the Y axis, thearithmetic average roughness Ba was the value obtained. by the followingformula (2) and expressed in μm. Each of Ra values was measured at fiveportions of the graphite film (center portions 2β of line segments 1 a),and an average value of five Re values was calculated to obtain thearithmetic average roughness Re of the graphite film.

$\begin{matrix}{\left\lbrack {{Mathematical}\mspace{14mu} {Formula}\mspace{14mu} 2} \right\rbrack \mspace{464mu}} & \; \\{R_{a} = {\frac{1}{l}{\int_{O}^{L}{{{f(x)}}{dx}}}}} & (2)\end{matrix}$

The selected graphite film at measurement of arithmetic averageroughness (Ra) (five sites per one sheet of graphite film) was used tomeasure thicknesses at five sites as shown in FIG. 3, and an averagethereof was calculated. Then, ratios of arithmetic average roughness Ra(μm)/thickness (μm) were calculated every graphite films to obtain anaverage value thereof. Thus, average Ra at five sites/average thicknessat five sites was considered to be a ratio of Ra (μm)/thickness (μm).

(5) Calculation of Ra/Rave Ratio of Graphite Film

As mentioned above, when the arithmetic average roughness Ra wasmeasured at five portions as shown in FIG. 2 on the selected graphitefilm, a ratio of each of the arithmetic average roughnesses Ra to anaverage value of the arithmetic average roughnesses Ra, that is, a ratioof Re/Rave was determined to consider this as the variation of thegraphite film.

(6) Measurement of Thermal Resistance of Graphite Film

The thermal resistance of the TIM made of the graphite film of thepresent invention was measured by using a precision thermal resistancemeasurement apparatus manufactured by Hitachi Technologies and Services,Ltd. The, present measurement apparatus was an apparatus capable ofmeasuring a precise thermal resistance, and an error thereof was ±0.002°C.·cm²/W. The sample dimension was 10×10 mm²; the load was 0.1 MPa to0.45 MPa (corresponding to 1.0 kgf/cm² to 4.5 kgf/cm²); and themeasurement temperature was 60° C. Specifically, first the applied wattnumber (W) was adjusted so that the interfacial temperature was 60° C.,and the measurement was made for 10 times after the temperature changebecame constant. An average value thereof was determined as the measuredvalue of the thermal resistance.

(7) Preparation of Samples used in Examples and Comparative Examples

Hereafter, a standard method of preparing fourteen graphite films usedin the Examples and the Comparative Examples is described.

A curing agent made of 20 g of acetic anhydride and 10 g of isoquinolinewas mixed with 100 g of a 18 wt % DMF solution of a polyamide acidprepared from pyromellitic acid dianhydride, 4,4′-diaminodiphenyl ether,and p-phenylenediamine (4/3/1 in a molar ratio) and stirred. Afterdefoaming by centrifugal separation, the mixture was cast and appliedonto an aluminum foil. The processes from the stirring till thedefoaming were carried out while cooling to 0° C. This laminate of thealuminum foil and the polyamide acid solution was heated at 120° C. for150 seconds, so as to obtain a gel film having a self-supportingproperty. This gel film was peeled of from the aluminum foil and fixedto a frame. This gel film was heated at 300° C., 400° C., and 500° C.each for 30 seconds, so as to produce fourteen polyimide films having anaverage linear expansion coefficient of 1.6×10⁻⁵ cm/cm/° C. at 100 to200° C. and a birefringence of 0.14, and having different thicknesses.

The obtained polyimide film was heated up to 1000° C. at a heating rateof 10° C./minute in a nitrogen gas with use of an electric furnace andheld at 1000° C. for one hour to perform a preliminary treatment. Next,the obtained carbonized film was interposed between spacers made of agraphite fiber felt with surface roughness Ra of 5 μm, and further,these were placed between graphite blocks subjected to surface polishingand set in a graphite heater furnace. The temperature was raised up to290° C. at a heating rate of 20° C./minute, and the maximum temperaturewas held for 10 minutes. Thereafter, the temperature was lowered at acooling rate of 40° C./minute. The graphitization treatment was carriedout in an argon atmosphere. During this, a load of 100 gf/cm² wasapplied to the sample.

Each of thickness, thermal conductivity, density of fourteen graphitefilms (A) to (N) is shown below.

-   (A) thickness: 2.8 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane direction:    1800 W/mK, density: 2.0 a/cm³-   (B) thickness: 2.3 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane direction:    1750 W/mK, density: 2.0 g/cm³-   (C) thickness: 1.7 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane direction:    1740 W/mK, density: 2.0 q/cm³-   (D) thickness: 1.2 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane direction:    1660 W/mK, density: 2.0 g/cm³-   (E) thickness: 1.0 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane direction:    1680 W/mK, density: 2.0 g/cm³-   (F) thickness: 0.7 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane direction:    1710 W/mK, density: 2.1 g/cm³-   (G) thickness: 0.4 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane direction:    1780 W/mK, density: 2.0 g/cm³-   (H) thickness: 0.3 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane    direction.: 1600 W/mK, density: 1.9 g/cm³-   (I) thickness: 0.2 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane direction:    1580 W/mK density: 1.9 g/cm³-   (J) thickness: 30 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane direction:    1610 W/mK, density: 2.0 g/cm³-   (K) thickness: 18 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane direction:    1840 W/mK, density: 2.0 g/cm³-   (L) thickness: 8 μm, thermal conductivity of film. plane direction.:    1880 W/mK, density: 2.1 g/cm³-   (M) thickness: 4.8 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane direction:    1760 W/mK, density: 2.1 g/cm³-   (N) thickness: 0.1 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane direction:    1580 W/mK, density: 2.0 to 1.8 g/cm³

Examples 1 to 9

As Examples, the thermal resistances of the above samples (A) to (I)were measured. The results are shown in Table 1. In Table 1, the ratioof the arithmetic average roughness Ra to the thickness of each sample(Ra (μm)/thickness (μm)) is also shown. The thicknesses of the samples(A) to (I) were 0.2 μm to 2.8 μm, and the thermal conductivity in thefilm plane direction. and the density were all within a range of theconditions that the TIM of the present invention should satisfy in apreferable mode. Also, the values of (Ra/T) were within a range of 0.16to 5.0 and were within a range of the conditions that the TIM of thepresent invention should satisfy. The thermal resistances of thesesamples were 0.078 to 0.29° C.·cm²/W (in the case in which. the load was0.1 MPa), and an extremely low thermal resistance outstandinglysurpassing the property of a conventional TIM was exhibited. Further,the ratios R_(0.1P)/R_(0.45P) of the thermal resistance (R_(0.1P)) whena pressure of 0.1 MPa was applied to the thermal resistance (R_(0.45P))when a pressure of 0.45 MPa was applied were extremely small and thelargest one among these samples was 1.42 times multiple, and thesmallest one was 1.12 times multiple. These results showed that the TIMof the present invention had an extremely excellent property.

TABLE 1 Thermal resistance Pressure Thickness (Ra/thicknessT) (° C. ·cm²/W) dependency Example Sample (μm) (μm/μm) 0.1 (MPa) 0.2 (MPa) 0.45(MPa) (R_(0.1P)/R_(0.45P)) 1 (A) 2.8 0.16 0.29 0.28 0.22 1.32 2 (B) 2.30.32 0.26 0.24 0.20 1.30 3 (C) 1.7 0.29 0.25 0.23 0.19 1.32 4 (D) 1.20.72 0.24 0.22 0.17 1.42 5 (E) 1.0 1.86 0.162 0.153 0.120 1.35 6 (F) 0.71.77 0.107 0.086 0.080 1.34 7 (G) 0.4 2.2 0.078 0.071 0.067 1.18 8 (H)0.3 3.6 0.080 0.072 0.068 1.12 9 (I) 0.2 5.0 0.121 0.118 0.100 1.21

Comparative Examples 1 to 9

As Comparative Examples, the thermal resistances of each of the abovesamples (J) to (N) is shown in Table 2. The thicknesses of these sampleswere out of the range of the present invention in the thick directionwith respect to the samples (J) to (M) and in the thin direction in thesample (N). The ratios of (Ra/T) were also out of the range of thepresent invention with respect to the samples (J) and (K), though theratios were within the range of the present invention with respect tothe samples (I), (M), and (N). The thermal resistances of these sampleswere all 0.3° C.·cm²/W or more (when the load was 0.1 MPa). Also, theratios R_(0.1P)/R_(0.45P) were large except for the sample (N). Thevalue of R_(0.1P)/R_(0.45P) of the sample (N) was 1.2 times multiple,and this showed that the pressure dependency of the thermal resistancewas small as a feature of the TIM of the present invention. However, thesample (N) had a thermal resistance of 0.36° C.·cm²/W (when the load was0.1 MPa) and was extremely thin (thickness of 0.1 μm), so that it wasdifficult to use the sample (N) as a practical TIM.

TABLE 2 (Ra/ Thermal resistance Pressure Comparative ThicknessthicknessT) (° C. · cm²/W) dependency Example Sample (μm) (μm/μm) 0.1(MPa) 0.2 (MPa) 0.45 (MPa) (R_(0.1P)/R_(0.45P)) 1 (J) 30 0.02 0.54 0.490.30 1.8 2 (K) 18 0.04 0.48 0.40 0.23 2.09 3 (L) 8 0.16 0.40 0.34 0.221.82 4 (M) 4.8 0.30 0.33 0.25 0.18 1.83 5 (N) 0.1 30 0.36 0.33 0.30 1.2

Examples 10 and 11 Comparative Examples 6 and 7

Four kinds of graphite films were fabricated in the same manner as themethod of sample (G) except that the maximum treatment temperature forthe graphitization was changed in 2700° C. (G-1), 2400° C. (G-2), 2100°C. (G-3), or 1700° C. (G-4). Each of thicknesses, thermalconductivities, densities of fourteen graphite films is shown below.

-   (G-1) thickness: 0.4 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane    direction: 1580 W/mK, density: 2.0 g/cm³-   (G-2) thickness: 0.4 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane    direction: 1100 W/mK, density: 2.0 g/cm³-   (G-3) thickness: 0.5 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane    direction: 500 W/mK, density: 1.9 g/cm³-   (G-4) thickness: 0.6 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane    direction: 390 W/mK, density: 1.9 g/cm³

The thermal conductivity of each sample was measured. Table 3 shows theresults. The thicknesses and the ratios (Ra/T) of the surface arithmeticaverage roughness Ra to the thickness of each sample were all within therange of the conditions that the TIM of the present invention shouldsatisfy. However, the thermal conductivities of (G-3) and (G-4) in thefilm plane direction were out of the range of the conditions that theTIM of the present invention should satisfy. The thermal resistances of(G-3) and (G-4) were 0.58° C.·cm²/W and 1.1° C.·cm²/W, respectively(when the load was 1 kqf/cm²), and were all 0.3° C.·cm²/W or more. Fromthese, in the TIM of the present. invention, the thermal conductivity inthe film plane direction is preferably 1000 W/mK or more and as atemperature for fabricating the graphite film, it is preferable tocarbonize and graphitize the polymer film at a temperature of 2400° C.or higher.

TABLE 3 Thermal conductivity in film plane Thermal resistance Pressuredirection (° C. · cm²/W) dependency Sample (W/mK) 0.1 (MPa) 0.2 (MPa)0.45 (MPa) (R_(0.1P)/R_(0.45P)) Example 4 (G) 1780 0.079 0.071 0.0671.18 Example (G-1) 1580 0.12 0.10 0.095 1.26 10 Example (G-2) 1100 0.260.23 0.19 1.36 11 Comparative (G-3) 500 0.58 0.47 0.30 1.93 Example 6Comparative (G-4) 390 1.10 0.62 0.52 2.12 Example 7

Examples 12 to 15 Comparative Examples 8 to 12

Each of carbonized films was interposed between spacers made of agraphite fiber felt having a different surface roughness Ra, and thiswas placed between graphite blocks subjected to surface polishing andset in a graphite heater furnace, so as to fabricate 9 kinds of graphitefilms ((A-1), (A-2), (A-3), (A-4), (I-1), (I-2), (I-3), (I-4), and(I-5)). Among these, (A-1) and (I-1) were fabricated by being directlyinterposed between graphite blocks subjected to surface polishingwithout using a graphite fiber felt, and were mirror-surface sampleswith little wrinkle. Also, the other 7 kinds of samples (A-2), (A-3),(A-4), (I-2), (I-3), (I-4), and (I-5)) were fabricated by the samemethod as the previously described method of fabricating the samples (A)and (I) except that the surface roughness of the felt put to use and thepressure applied to the samples were changed. Also, (I-4) was treated byinterposing with a felt having a surface roughness of 20 μm or more andcomparatively uniform but large wrinkles were present in this. (A-4) andwere fabricated without applying a pressure at all (in a free state) andnon-uniform wrinkles were present in these. Here, in the presentExamples, for the purpose of specifying the optimal surface roughnessrange and shape for achieving an excellent thermal resistance property,the thickest sample (A) and the thinnest sample (I) within the range ofthe present invention have been selected.

Each of thickness T, thermal conductivity, density, (Ra/T), variation of(Ra/Rave) at five sites of obtained graphite films is shown below.

-   (A-1) thickness T: 2.8 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane    direction: 1800 W/mK, density: 2.1 g/cm³, (Ra/T): 0.04, (Ra/Rave):    0.8 to 1.2-   (A-2) thickness T: 2.8 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane    direction.: 1720 W/mK, density: 2.1 g/cm³, (Ra/T): 0.2, (Ra/Rave):    0.6 to 1.3-   (A-3) thickness T: 2.8 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane    direction: 1700 W/mK, density: 2.0 g/cm³, (Ra/T): 0.5, (Ra/Rave):    0.7 to 1.6-   (A-4) thickness T: 2.8 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane    direction.: 1800 W/mK, density: 2.1 g/cm³, (Ra/T): 2.8, (Ra/Rave):    0.14 to 6.4-   (I-1) thickness T: 0.2 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane    direction: 1680 W/mK, density: 2.0 g/cm³, (Ra/T): 0.05, (Ra/Rave):    0.7 to 1.4-   (I-2) thickness T: 0.2 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane    direction: 1830 W/mK, density: 2.1 g/cm³, (Ra/T): 2.8, (Ra/Rave):    0.8 to 1.27-   (I-3) thickness T: 0.2 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane    direction: 1700 W/mK density: 2.0 g/cm³, (Ra/T): 4.0, (Ra/Rave): 0.4    to 1.6-   (I-4) thickness T: 0.2 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane    direction: 1620 W/mK, density: 2.1 g/cm³, (Ra/T): 32, (Ra/Rave): 0.3    to 2.5-   (I-5) thickness I: 0.2 μm, thermal conductivity of film plane    direction: 1620 W/mK, density: 2.1 g/cm³, (Ra/T): 42, (Ra/Rave):    0.18 to 5.2

Among these samples, (A-2), (A-3), (I-2), and (I-3) were samples inwhich the state of the wrinkle thereof (Ra/T) and the variation(Ra/Rave) were both within a preferable range of the present invention.On the other hand, (A-1) was a sample in which (Ra/T) was 0.04 and whichwas close to a mirror surface, and (A-4) was a sample in which thevariation of (Ra/T) was 0.14 to 6.4, both exceeding the preferable rangeof the present invention. Further, (I-1) was a sample in which thevariation of (Ra/T) was 0.05 and which was close to a mirror surface;(I-4) was a sample in which the variation of (Ra/T) was 32; and (I-5)was a sample in which the variation of (Ra/T) was 42 and in which thevariation of (Ra/Rave) was 0.18 to 5.2, all being out of the preferablerange of the present invention. The results of measuring the thermalresistance properties of these samples are shown in Table 4.

TABLE 4 Thermal resistance (Ra/ Variation of (° C. · cm²/W) Samplethickness T) Ra/Rave 0.1 (MPa) 0.2 (MPa) 0.45 (MPa) Example A-2 0.2 0.6to 1.3 0.24 0.22 0.19 12 Example A-3 0.5 0.7 to 1.6 0.26 0.23 0.21 13Example I-2 2.8  0.8 to 1.27 0.09 0.09 0.08 14 Example I-3 4.0 0.4 to1.6 0.12 0.10 0.09 15 Comparative A-1 0.04 0.8 to 1.2 1.30 0.86 0.72Emmple 8 Comparative A-4 2.8 0.14 to 6.4  2.00 1.62 1.13 Emmple 9Comparative I-1 0.05 0.7 to 1.4 0.87 0.76 0.64 Example 10 ComparativeI-4 32 0.3 to 2.5 0.68 0.62 0.58 Example 11 Comparative I-5 42 0.18 to5.2  1.02 0.94 0.87 Example 12

From these results, in the thermal interface material made of thegraphite film of the present invention, the size and the uniformity ofthe wrinkle thereof give a large influence on the thermal resistanceproperties. In order to achieve excellent thermal resistance properties,it was necessary that (Ra/T) showing the size of the wrinkle was withina range of 0.1 to 30 and that (Ra/Rave) showing the uniformity of thewrinkle was 0.2 to 5.0. In particular, the tact that (A-1) and (I-1)having little wrinkle cannot achieve an excellent thermal property, andthe fact that it was not sufficient that the size of the wrinkle thereofwas simply large but a suitable wrinkle needed to be present, were notknown in the art at all up till now and have been made clear for thefirst time by the studies of the present invention.

EXPLANATION OF NUMERICAL REFERENCE

1 a line segment

2α midpoint of each side

2β midpoint of line segment

2γ centroid

7 a graphite film

7 b spacer

7 c pressing jig

1. A thermal interface material for transferring heat by interposingbetween two materials, wherein the thermal interface material comprisesa graphite film, the graphite film has a thickness T of 200 nm to 3 μm,and a ratio Ra/T of an arithmetic average roughness Ra on a surface ofthe graphite film to the thickness T of the graphite film is 0.1 to 30.2. The thermal interface material according to claim 1, wherein each ofthe arithmetic average roughnesses Ra is 0.3 μm to 6.0 μm on a surfaceof the graphite film, and a ratio Ra/Rave of each of the arithmeticaverage roughnesses Ra on two or more parts of the graphite film to anaverage Rave of the arithmetic average roughnesses Ra is 0.2 to 5.0. 3.The thermal interface material according to claim 1, wherein thegraphite film has a density of 1.60 g/cm³ to 2.26 g/cm³, and a thermalconductivity of 1000 W/mK to 2000 W/mK in a film plane direction.
 4. Amethod for thermally coupling materials with the thermal interfacematerial according to claim 1, wherein a thermal resistance of thethermal interface material is 0.3° C.·cm²/W or less on a load of 0.1MPa.
 5. A method for thermally coupling materials with the thermalinterface material according to claim 1, wherein a ratioR_(0.1P)/R_(0.45P) of a thermal resistance R_(0.1P) on a load of 0.1 MPato a thermal resistance R_(0.45P) on a load of 0.45 MPa of the thermalinterface material is 1.0 to 1.8.
 6. A method for preparing the thermalinterface material according to claim 1, comprising carbonizing apolymer film to form a carbonized film, and graphitizing the carbonizedfilm to form a graphite film.
 7. The method according to claim 6,wherein in at least of the carbonizing step and the graphitizing step,the polymer film, the carbonized film, or the graphite film is supportedat multiple points, and the polymer film, the carbonized film, or thegraphite film is carbonized and/or graphitized while pressing.
 8. Themethod according to claim 7, wherein in at least one of the carbonizingstep and the graphitizing step, a spacer is laminated on each plane ofthe polymer film, the carbonized film, or the graphite film, and alaminate of the spacer and the polymer film, the carbonized film, or thegraphite film is carbonized and/or graphitized while pressing.
 9. Themethod according to claim 8, wherein the spacer has a surface roughnessRa of 0.2 μm to 20 μm.
 10. The method according to claim 8, wherein thespacer comprises a felt composed of a carbon fiber or a graphite fiber.11. The method according to claim 6, wherein the polymer film comprisesa condensed aromatic polymer.
 12. The method according to claim 6,comprising carbonizing and graphitizing the polymer film at atemperature of 2400° C. or more, wherein the polymer film comprises anaromatic polyimide and has a thickness of 300 nm to 7.5 μm.
 13. Thethermal interface material according to claim 2, wherein the graphitefilm has a density of 1.60 g/cm³ to 2.26 g/cm³, and a thermalconductivity of 1000 W/mK to 2000 W/mK in a film plane direction. 14.The thermal interface material according to claim 1, wherein a thermalresistance of the thermal interface material is 0.3° C.·cm²/W or less ona load of 0.1 MPa.
 15. The thermal interface material according to claim2, wherein a thermal resistance of the thermal interface material is0.3° C.·cm²/W or less on a load of 0.1 MPa.
 16. The thermal interfacematerial according to claim 1, wherein a ratio R_(0.45P)/R_(0.45P) of athermal resistance R_(0.1P) on a load of 0.1 MPa to a thermal resistanceR_(0.45P) on a load of 0.45 MPa of the thermal interface material is 1.0to 1.8.
 17. The thermal interface material according to claim 2, whereina ratio R_(0.1P)/R_(0.45P) of a thermal resistance R_(0.1P) on a load of0.1 MPa to a thermal resistance R_(0.45P) on a load of 0.45 MPa of thethermal interface material is 1.0 to 1.8.
 18. A method for thermallycoupling materials with the thermal interface material according toclaim 2, wherein a thermal resistance of the thermal interface materialis 0.3° C.·cm²/W or less on a load of 0.1 MPa.
 19. A method forthermally coupling materials with the thermal interface materialaccording to claim 2, wherein a ratio R_(0.1P)/R_(0.45P) of a thermalresistance R_(0.1P) on a load of 0.1 MPa to a thermal resistanceR_(0.45P) on a load of 0.45 MPa of the thermal interface material is 1.0to 1.8.
 20. The method according to claim 9, wherein the spacercomprises a felt composed of a carbon fiber or a graphite fiber.